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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324085">Son Goku, and all the progress he's made</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLightningAndNexus/pseuds/BlueLightningAndNexus'>BlueLightningAndNexus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Ball</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Freeform story, Frieza is still a bastard but I love him, Kaioken, Set before Universe 6 Tournament or the Tournament of Power Arcs, Some romance between Goku and Chichi, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan Blue, Super Saiyan God, brief romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:20:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324085</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLightningAndNexus/pseuds/BlueLightningAndNexus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A freeform story, examining all of Goku's major transformations up to Super Saiyan Blue, his thoughts on each of them, what they remind him of, and who he associates with them. Basically, this is an homage to how far our favorite Saiyan has come, as well as an examination of some of his family relationships in the process.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chi-Chi/Son Goku (Dragon Ball)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Son Goku, and all the progress he's made</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For Son Goku, Super Saiyan felt like a concentrated explosion. </p><p>All of that anger--that rage--suddenly blasted out of him in every direction. His aura shifted, twisting around in the air, burning like a golden fire. </p><p>The first time he ever used it will forever be burned in his memory. As the rage inside of him grew, so did the storms that consumed Namek during its final hours. As his anger bubbled, so did the lava that began to consume the planet. </p><p>To this day, he regrets how out-of-control he was. Fury took him over, and in that moment, Son Goku--once a kind, sweet boy who wanted nothing more than good friends and a fun adventure--came to know the definition of the word wrath. </p><p>Frieza, Prince of the Frost Demos and the cruelest tyrant the known universe had seen in centuries, shook in fear as the Super Saiyan inside of Goku awakened. In an instant, Goku’s eyes became jade, his hair gold, and his mouth twisted into a scowl.</p><p>As his now-green eyes briefly hovered over the patch of air that Krillin inhabited seconds ago, he looked to the man who killed his best friend. Goku locked eyes with Frieza, his next move already decided. Without looking away, he spoke to his son. </p><p>“Gohan, get Piccolo out of here. Find Bulma and find the ship.”</p><p>He spoke uncharacteristically calm, but the tranquil fury wouldn’t last long. </p><p>The Super Saiyan form was something straight out of a fairy tale--indeed, it was a myth for so many years. But even at 5 years old, Son Gohan--ever the empathetic and clever child--recognized the deep darkness brewing within his father. </p><p>“...Dad?” Gohan asked, voice quivering, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. “What’s...happened to you?”</p><p>Goku groaned in frustration, rolling his eyes slightly before looking over at Gohan. </p><p>“I am your father, do as I say NOW! Go, while I still have any semblance of control!”</p><p>Gohan quivered, but acknowledged the intensity of his father’s words. Without saying another word, he picked up Piccolo and flew off. </p><p>Truth be told, Goku’s memories of the following few minutes are...fuzzy. Not just because this was the first time using Super Saiyan, but because of the pure, unadulterated anger boiling inside his body, clouding his judgement and his memories. </p><p>But he remembers this one moment. Like a needle in a haystack, a crystal clear moment amidst hours of muddled memories, he remembers the look on his son’s face after Goku yelled at him for the first and last time. </p><p>____________________</p><p>Each and every time Goku used the Kaioken, he thought of the namesake: King Kai. </p><p>The form reminded him of the increased gravity in the spaceship Dr. Briefs gave him, and of the increased gravity on King Kai’s planet. Naturally, he learned the technique on the latter and perfected it on the former. </p><p>When Goku first arrived on King Kai’s planet, he couldn’t believe how heavy he felt. This was his first experience with increased gravity, and those initial days would stick with him forever. </p><p>The Kaioken felt similar. A burst of crimson energy enveloping his body, and Goku suddenly felt heavy. Not in the literal sense--far from it, he could move much faster in the Kaioken than he could in his base form--but it was a similar tactile feeling. </p><p>The Kaioken was, at its most basic level, a power multiplier. Like some kind of weird device Bulma might make, it took everything in Goku’s body and multiplied it. But each and every time he does it, the massive amounts of energy start to push against his flesh, more than his body should normally be able to handle. </p><p>Times 3 is where the pain becomes noticeable, but only barely; Times 4 is only bit worse, now that he’s perfected it. Times 10 is where he starts to feel his bones shake with every punch. Times 20 is an earthquake of power, every muscle movement threatening to destroy him. </p><p>For years, Goku never thought he’d have to use it. After he tempered the anger inside of him, he found a much greater degree of control over Super Saiyan, which naturally led to him discovering Super Saiyan 2, and then 3. With a bit of sadness, Goku had to admit that the technique that once defined his fighting style was obsolete. </p><p>It wasn’t until he met Beerus that he got an idea...</p><p>____________________</p><p>For Goku, Super Saiyan 2 felt like a jolt of lightning. </p><p>It was everything that Goku had with Super Saiyan, but more potent, more controlled. All of that energy, and now twice as strong. His hair was a bit longer, even less willing to cooperate with gravity. His eyes now seemed...brighter. They had more light, more life inside of them. </p><p>Using it gave Goku an opposite feeling from Super Saiyan. With that form, Goku initially felt regret, thinking of just how far gone he’d been the first time he used it, how much he scared Gohan. This regret would dull with age, but those memories of Namek still came back every now and again. </p><p>Everytime he used Super Saiyan, he was overcome with one emotion: pride. The pride at feeling this greater power, like an electrical current flowing through him, and knowing that his firstborn unlocked this incredible power at 12 years old. </p><p>Goku couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. He still remembered that moment: trying to fight the Cell clones with the others, watching Gohan fight in the distance. All of a sudden, an explosion of gold light came from their brawl. The ground shook, the earth cracked, and amidst it all, Gohan stood, tall and strong. </p><p>When Goku first met Bulma, he was 14 years old (or, at least, so he thought; counting was not one of Goku’s strengths) and still living on his own in the forest. Gohan had unlocked more power than most Saiyans could ever dream of, and all when he was two years younger. </p><p>That dry Summer afternoon, when he and Vegeta had their rematch in the desert, Vegeta with the Majin symbol on his forehead, both of them used Super Saiyan 2. Before the fight started, each fighter took familiar stances: Goku with his back arched and his body turned slightly to the side, arms raised; and Vegeta with his knees bent, right arm pointing out, left arm above his eye. </p><p>With this familiar stance, against a familiar foe, Goku closed his eyes, found Super Saiyan 2, and thought of his son. </p><p>____________________</p><p>For Goku, Super Saiyan 3 was tremendously straining. </p><p>It took everything he had to keep it together when using the form; it felt like a million planets crushing him all at once. To be perfectly frank, he’d only ever used it a couple of times in his life: against Buu, against Beerus on King Kai’s planet, and against Kale and Caulifla in the Tournament of Power. It was all he could manage. </p><p>Each time he used it, he could feel his energy draining at a rapid rate compared to any other form. But like Super Saiyan 2, he also felt overwhelming pride. </p><p>He’d watched Goten and Trunks use this form--both individually and together as Gotenks--for much longer durations than Goku ever could. The two were massively creative with the form, Goten coming up with techniques and strategies Goku never even dreamed of. </p><p>He never personally met Goten for the first 7 years of the boy’s life, and could only watch his growth from the heavens. When Goku came back to Earth to defeat Buu, he could finally meet his second son, and see his progress with his own eyes. That was all Goku could ask for, as a father. </p><p>____________________</p><p>For Goku, Super Saiyan God felt like a calm inferno. </p><p>The first time he used the form, he thought he was burning to death. A deep fire was consuming his body, starting with his chest and moving outwards, bleaching his hair red and transforming his eyes scarlet. </p><p>After this initial stage of terror, Goku was suddenly born again. Whis would later explain that God Ki is what grants Angels and Gods of Destruction their agelessness; its very effects naturally slow down or stop the process of aging. </p><p>“Why do you think I look as great as I do for someone pushing 10,000?” Whis said with a coy smile, causing Goku to nearly fall out of his chair. </p><p>In Goku’s case, the God Ki made him feel...younger. He no longer looked like a man in his 40s; he looked as old as he was the day he married Chichi. Saiyans already aged at a slower rate, but this was another level. He was skinnier, not quite as physically toned. His eyes were softer, wider. The slight wrinkles forming on his face had all but vanished. </p><p>When he showed Chichi the form, it was several weeks after Beerus had left. He’d all but mastered God Ki in a couple of months, in what should have taken years. </p><p>As the familiar inferno enveloped his body from head to toe, Chichi thought she was seeing a vision of the past. It was as if this new power turned back the clock. </p><p>Standing in front of her husband, she reached up, holding a hand to the side of his face. </p><p>“Goku...is it really you?”</p><p>He smiled. “Yes, Chichi. It’s me,” he said with a chuckle. </p><p>Chichi was never the sort of person to dwell on the past. She was stubborn but not against change, and always planning for the future. But in this moment--this one instance--she began to tear up. An overwhelming amount of nostalgia hit her. As she looked at her husband, seemingly two decades younger, she let the tears fall, thinking on how far they’d come. </p><p>The fiery aura around him diminished without disappearing, and he pulled her into a hug. </p><p>____________________</p><p>For Goku, Super Saiyan Blue felt like an ocean: peaceful and serene, but terrifyingly powerful. </p><p>On the one hand, Whis had told him and Vegeta while they were training on Beerus’ planet that Super Saiyan Blue would be an entirely different beast than their other forms. It’s entire emphasis was on ki control: Goku and Vegeta, if they trained properly, should be able to perform virtually any ki-consuming or risky technique that they had only been able to dream of in the past. Even the most dangerous combinations of ki techniques should be theoretically possible, because Super Saiyan Blue was simply that controllable. (And Goku already had one specific combination in mind after seeing King Kai.) </p><p>On the other hand, gone was the sense of youth that came with Super Saiyan God, seemingly cancelled out by the somewhat tempered (but still very much present) explosive anger of Super Saiyan. One was an extension of his normal base power taken as far as it could go; another outright replaced his energy with God Ki. </p><p>This was the first time Goku ever tried to combine forms on this scale; together it was overwhelming power on a level he couldn’t have imagined mere months ago. </p><p>When he used it against Frieza, it was the first time he ever used it for more than a few seconds. He concentrated all of his energy into a single pore of his body, then another, and then another, one-by-one. Within seconds, he was consumed in a blue crystalline cocoon of God Ki; underneath, he now had sapphire hair and aqua-colored eyes. </p><p>Goku and Frieza were now in a faceoff for the first time in over 15 years. His old nemesis was back again, and this time, Goku would finish the job. He looked to Beerus and Whis, capable of ending the entire conflict with a flick of the wrist but content with simply watching it unfold. Goku was content with that reality too; he wanted to see how much this form could do, and he had those two to thank for it. </p><p>Frieza--now clad in his own golden form--sneered at Goku. “So, monkey, after all these years, this is the pinnacle you’ve reached?”</p><p>Goku thought of everything that had led him to this point. Dying and going to King Kai’s planet; coming back to fight Vegeta, Nappa and Frieza; training with Gohan to fight Cell; defeating Buu; and even facing Beerus. </p><p>But his journey wasn’t over yet. If Goku’s suspicions were correct, he still had a lot more room to grow. </p><p>“For now,” he said with a smile.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ta-da! Thanks for reading!</p><p>Damn, I haven't written any fanfiction in like a month. I miss it. This was fun. </p><p>Anyways, Goku is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, and as someone who watched DBZ back in the early 2000s as a little kid, it is so rewarding to see his progress. I was initially going to have the "Super Saiyan God" segment focus on his relationship with Beerus, but when I was describing it I remembered how it is supposed to make someone look younger, and how in the anime, his character model looks a lot like how he looks at the start of Z; I loved the idea that it reminded Chichi of when they were still newlyweds and made her nostalgic, so I wrote that instead. I love Goku and Chichi and might write a fic for them should I get an idea :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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